Rinoa's Loss
by yampy person
Summary: a Rinoa/Squall fic. Rinoa tries to find Squall after he left her.
1. Chapter 1

Rinoa's Loss

She sat there, staring off into space, thinking of him. Somehow she had to regain his love.

She would sit there, that same chair, that same place, on her mantlepiece a photo, the only photograph she had of him, tattered and torn. She would gaze longingly at it, hoping one day he would return to her. But he never did.

*

Rinoa slowly got up from her chair; she walked into her kitchen. An old newspaper clipping lay on the table next to where she stood. She stopped to read it, even though she knew it almost off by heart.

WOMAN SAVED BY LOCAL HERO

A YOUNG WOMAN in perilous danger was saved by her boyfriend earlier today. 

In the Restarante Leviathano, a fire somehow broke out when a cook accidentally dropped a match onto some sort of flammable material. The place was up in flames very quickly, and was evacuated but the young woman was trapped inside. Not waiting for the fire brigade, he went inside to try and find her, and within a few minutes everyone was safe outside, with the fire brigade putting out the fire. The woman, Rinoa Heartilly, says "I

She stopped reading at that point. Squall had saved her, and she'd never really felt like she'd thanked him enough. So she had to find him. She felt like that she shouldn't be dwelling on past memories, she should be trying to find him, search the world, and one day they would be reunited, in his arms forever, where she should lie, where she should be. To keep their bond unbroken.

She took the photograph from her mantlepiece, and she kissed it, and she muttered, "See you…" and walked out the door.

*

She walked down the lane, and walked into the small shop, the owner of which she had knew so well, until Squall had left her. Without reason. 

The old lady came from her till, and said, "Rinoa, where have you been all this time?"

"I was out of town." she lied, not wanting her old friend to know the truth of her supposed disappearance. 

"But what happened to you? What are all those scars on your arms?"

She made up some more, some rubbish about running into some thugs in Deling City, wishing she had put a cardigan or something over where she had cut herself, so sad and depressed, herself to blame, herself only-

But she had to move on. Those days were gone, wasted. It was time she would never regain, and she had to accept it. Scarred for life, ugly, maybe even hideous, but if she was in Squall's arms, nothing else would matter, only him and her, destined to be together, forever, forever, and never parting, always close, close, closer, closer-

But she had to find him first. She left the small shop, set off on the long hard weary track what she thought would lead to him.

*


	2. Chapter 2

She tried Balamb first. That was the place she had last seen him, before they waved goodbye. Maybe he was still there, or maybe she could find some evidence of where he might have travelled. She had nothing to lose, and maybe there was something she could gain. 

The train pulled in, and she got off. The little town had expanded slightly; some more houses had been built there. But none of them looked like his house. 

She decided to try Ma Dincht first, she might as well start somewhere familiar. [Author's note: Ina is kawaii, ne? please agree!] But when she came to the house she noticed something severely wrong. 

Ma Dincht had disappeared, all her stuff was sprawled out all over the floor. 3 people were standing inside the house, Rinoa didn't know what to do or say to them. 

When she got nearer to them, she realized that they were all clothed in some sort of uniform, and were all holding some sort of weapons. 

They left silently, leaving Rinoa alone in this house. She didn't know how she felt. Lonely, lost, afraid, but a strange sort of calmness, too, like- 

Then she heard noises from upstairs. She ran up there, quickly just in case there was serious trouble. 

Another man was bent over Ma Dincht, holding a knife to her throat, and muttered, "Give me the money. Now." 

"i…i…don't know where it is…" 

"Leave her alone!" Rinoa said fiercely, hoping someone would hear her. 

"Tell her to give me the money!" The man said back to her, "She's trying to shut us down! She stole our money!"

"Who are you?" she enquired.

"We are an elite military force. Only the toughest, strongest people can join our forces. We are SeeD's."

"No…" Rinoa muttered. 

They couldn't be SeeD's, it was impossible. They were not…human enough. And Squall would have never joined their ranks, nor Selphie, nor Quistis, nor Zell…Zell. Why would his own mother try to shut down what he stood for? 

"I…don't believe you!"

* 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She didn't believe him. Not for a second. But something inside her said that maybe he was right, why would he lie? She ran, out of the town, only to realize that the Garden wasn't there, she had forgotten it was mobile. 

"Where's your Garden?" she asked him severely, he had followed her. 

"It comes down here, for an hour, just an hour every morning at 6am and at night at 7pm." 

"You think you can get in?" he thought to himself, almost laughing at her stupidity. 

She checked the time on her watch. It said 7:30(pm) but she knew it was an hour too fast, as she had forgotten to change it last autumn. 

Last autumn. The time when he had left her. She still remembered it, him walking off into the wilderness, leaving her alone. [in this fic, their adventure started in April, and ended in May(it is now January)- Ina mad brummy] Nothing she could do, totally lost without him. 

Then she realized she only had ½ an hour until Balamb Garden came in. She went to the shop to get some supplies and stocked up on her black magic. She hadn't battled in a long time, she needed to be well prepared, her opponents were her old friends, and they had all the advantages. One woman- on her own, the odds were against her, but she had to try. It might lead her to Squall. And if it did she'd do it, at any cost to herself, or anyone else. 

She decided to warm up against some bite bugs, if she was battling hundreds of SeeD's she'd need to practice. Surprisingly, she found herself beating them with ease, much easier than she thought it would be. Then she found a T-Rexaur.

She tried to fight at first, then she remembered, she had no GF, and time was getting on anyway, she'd have to run. She did so, and then cursed herself, how could she be so silly to forget? She equipped one quickly; she chose Leviathan, the sea monster. No sooner had she done so, She felt wind on the top of her head, blowing her hair. The garden came down to land. She heard voices; some SeeD's were coming out into the forest where she was. She quickly hid behind a tree, and listened to what they had to say. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Thanx u lot for helping me figure out the paragraphs!!

"What do we do?" a dark haired guy who looked about 25. "We've got no money."

"I don't know _what _to do." A woman of 18 said.

"Rebecca, we're lost. No funding, no new recruits. Now our plan will fail."

"Their plan?" Rinoa thought to herself, "I must find out. I'll get in the garden somehow."

She walked, as briskly as she could without making a sound. But she tripped over a rouge rock and the SeeD's heard her, and one of them pulled out a gun and fired some bullets into the bushes. Rinoa covered her head, hoping they wouldn't hit her-

But then she felt a searing pain in her leg, they had hit her. She knew she had to keep quiet, but she wanted to scream.

"Stop firing, whoever or whatever that was, they're not worth it." 

They both walked off, out of the forest, they looked like they were headed for Balamb. She didn't care about them, but she had to bandage her leg and remove the bullet, and then she realized-

They were headed for Ma Dincht's house. They were going to kill her. She looked at her watch. Only 50 minutes until the garden took off again. It was a race against time. She had to hurry. 

She first went to a small infirmary. She asked if anything could be done about her leg. They could remove the bullet, they said, but it would take time that Rinoa didn't have to spare. 

She thought that maybe Kadowaki could help her when she got inside the garden. If. 

She then ran into Ma Dincht's house, the blood still dripping down her leg, the pain getting more acute with movement. She slowly went up the stairs, and saw him again, with the two others she had seen earlier. 

The woman hurled the gun across the room at Rinoa, there was obviously no ammo left in it. Rinoa ducked out the way, and she picked the gun up. It was good enough for her to use. She got out some ammo she had brought earlier, and loaded the gun. The SeeD's noticed what she had done, it was her in control now, not them. 

They thought they were safe, Rinoa looked tired and weak. But they hadn't counted on her accuracy.

She picked them off, one by one, not missing once. She was surprised at herself. Maybe it was because she felt so much hatred for the three of them. She left Ma Dincht, she had to. She limped out the town and began moving towards garden stealthily. 

When she got near enough, she realized there was a guard at the door, but only one, she hadn't expected so much poor security. There was no video cameras or anything like that, no alarms at all. 

There wasn't a very good firing range from where she stood, so she moved closer in. She shot him, he fell down on the floor, dead. She carefully stepped over his limp body, and crossed the threshold into enemy territory. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After her visit to the infirmary, Rinoa felt a lot better. To her surprise, it had not been Kadowaki who had attended to her, but a young nurse she did not know. She had pretended that she had tried to get some money from a shopkeeper, and her story was believed. 

She walked out into the corridor, and wondered if there was a spare uniform somewhere. If she could look like a SeeD, it would help her slip around unnoticed. 

She decided to check the dorms first, there could be a uniform in one of those. But if there was someone in there? She would be in big trouble- but it couldn't be much worse than where she was right now. 

She picked a room at random, and opened the door. 

It was deserted. She looked around it. There were photographs of a young dark-haired woman on the walls. She looked in all the drawers, there was no spare uniform of any kind. 

She looked again at the photographs. Lots of settings, lots of different people. But they all seemed to have the same woman on them, of about 19 or 20. It must be the owner of the room, she thought, because it was a woman's room, number 15. She better leave soon, or the woman would find her in here. 

She left, but she forgot to shut the door behind her. 

Suddenly, a lot of SeeD's came from the main hall, and they all saw her. She didn't recognise any of them. 

"Who's been in my room?" she heard one of them say loudly, it was the woman from the photographs. Rinoa realised in a second that she had forgotten to shut the door, and that she had left her stuff sprawled out on the floor. 

"Who is that?" another SeeD commented, pointing at Rinoa. 

"Bet she's the one who's been in my room." The woman spoke again. 

She walked up to Rinoa, and when Rinoa saw her properly, she noticed something familiar about her.

"Quistis?"

*


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

[P.S. Quistis dyed her hair. Also I've tried to make this chapter a little longer. - Ina mad brummy.] 

Quistis led Rinoa into her room. They hadn't seen each other for these past 7 months, so there would be a lot to tell each other. After their adventure had finished, they had all drifted apart, only Rinoa and Squall staying close. Selphie had gone back to Trabia, to try and raise the funds they needed to rebuild it. With her at the helm, their campaign had been extremely successful, and most of the garden had been rebuilt, but they still needed to get their computer system back up. Irvine had also gone back to his original garden, Galbadia, and was now one of the best SeeD's there, due to his travels. Zell had travelled to Deling City, and that was the last anyone heard of him. 

"Rinoa, what's happened to you? To me you seem…different."

Rinoa didn't answer her question. 

"Rinoa?"

She continued staring off into to space, and then she finally spoke. "Squall…" she muttered, "I'm looking for him."

"He left you?"

She nodded silently. Rinoa decided to change the course of the conversation, she didn't want Quistis to know why and how he had left her. 

"Why have all the SeeD's changed so much?" she questioned.

"Well, Cid and Edea left the garden, they didn't tell us why. And then some of the SeeD's took over, and this is how it turned out. But they spent all our funds, so of course we have no money. So we're trying to raise funds in any way possible, even if it means stealing money and threatening people."

"And what do they mean by their "plan"?", Rinoa said, curious. 

"What? Oh, that. That's just the term used by us for our means of making money."

"But they said their plan would fail because of the lack of money, not that the lack of money was the plan."

"They must be talking about the Great Deling Plot, then."

"But what's that?"

"Oh-it's…", Quistis struggled to try and think of another lie to deceive her friend. "They're going to shut it down, and make into a military base. That's all. Because of its connections with the military, and Caraway."

Only part of what Quistis had said was true. They didn't mean to do this to Deling City, but to Rinoa's home, Timber. After all, it had good train lines, and an easily penetrated defence. Rinoa believed Quistis' words, after all they were old friends.

Some sort of bell was rung, and Quistis had to leave. 

Rinoa sat down on Quistis' bed, pondering her thoughts. She was worried about what was going to happen, she didn't want to drag Quistis into this with her. Then she felt a vibration; the garden was taking off. She had forgotten. They had stayed there an extra couple of hours, as some SeeD's had been late back, namely the ones Rinoa had shot. They had had to search for them and confirm their deaths. 

Rinoa decided to walk a little, and went to the balcony where she had shared that first kiss with him, so perfect and wonderful, she had felt that nothing could spoil that moment. She stared off into the dark sky, the stars shining brightly. Just like the night they had first been together, alone. The first person she felt she had ever truly loved. Seifer, she liked him, but she knew that it wasn't going to last. But Squall…she thought that they would be together forever, and that they would love each other for eternity. 

Instead, a torn love letter, their argument, Rinoa's cries of "Squall!", the sound of his hand as he slapped her face, tears, agony, heart wrenching pain, and the sound of his footsteps walking out of her apartment.

"Soon," she muttered, "soon we will be together again. I swear it."

* 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

[The reason I haven't updated for a while is that, well, on Saturday I was watching On the Ball, and then The Goal Rush, and then The Premiership, and on Sunday I went to my Nan's and then went to St. Andrews (Blues ground for you ppl not as mad about the Premiership as me) to watch England vs. Iceland Women's International, and then on Monday I watched Fulham vs. Chelsea (I got to swoon over Ina for 60 minutes, why did they take him off stupid Fulham manager he had the best shot of the game, though they gave lots of close-ups of him yay!) and Tuesday was Champions' League night (Man U vs. Bayer Leverkusen sp?) so I won't be writing much again…and sorry, this is probably longer than the story… - Ina mad brummy.]

They had caught her. As she had been there on that balcony, as soon as she had pledged to see him again, they made their move. Knife to her throat, they dragged her out of the balcony and into Room 101. 

It was called that simply because of the machinery what lay in there. Only the most experienced SeeD's could enter. 

She lay there, limp and weak, her eyes shut. Hooked up to one of the machines, some sort of medical equipment, they ran the necessary tests on her. She was drugged, dreaming, but desolate. 

One of the SeeD's gently lifted her arm, and took some blood. They needed to see if she was strong enough. They needed to use her to execute their plot. They had so many things to do, so little money, and so little time. 

Meanwhile, Quistis was wondering. Had she done the right thing? She knew what was happening to her old friend, but she had only seen it once before. They were going to test her, and then, if they weren't satisfied with her strength, they were going to kill her. 

She remembered what had happened to that man from Balamb. He had been suspicious, and had sneaked into the garden, and had been found out. Quistis had followed the other SeeD's into Room 101; she had always wondered what they had done in there. 

They had forced him down into the chair, and strapped him in, ignoring his cries for mercy. They drugged him, injected some sort of serum into his body, making him swallow it would be impossible, even though it had quicker effect. He slowly fell into a sedated slumber; then they ran the tests on him. They weren't satisfied with any of the results, they decided to eliminate him.

One of the SeeD's pulled a knife out of her pocket, and slowly sunk it into his chest. He was still stupefied, he was silent. His head lolled sideways, he was dead. 

Quistis had been in shock. "So this is what being a SeeD is all about," she had thought, "murder and death and pain." It had never used to be like this, before the adventure she had wasted her days away, teaching absent-mindedly, but really her vacant eyes had represented something deeper. Her love for Squall. Rinoa had taken him away from her. It was silly, she knew Squall didn't love her, and there was nothing she could have done. But to see him in love with her supposed friend, it made her so upset and angry. If it had been any old woman, maybe it would have been different. Maybe she could understand. She had to get her revenge. That's why she'd told her all those lies, and got her into this mess. What would happen to her? Would she be killed, or the right specimen for their experiments? It was worse what happened if they found out that you were strong enough. They would take your DNA, and then torture you to find out how much you knew about their plan. You would end up in their prisons, if you knew anything at all, and they would leave you there, only a couple of slices of bread and cheese to live on, sleeping on the floor. They soon died. Rinoa's chances of survival were virtually nil. Then the cloning process can begin.

*


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

[Sorry, the internet packed up and wouldn't work for ages- Ina mad brummy]

She sat in that prison, bored and hungry, most of all, she felt sadness. How was she going to get out of here? She would never find him.

Quistis walked in the room, she had come to visit her. Quistis almost allowed herself to smile; their plan was working. It was only a matter of time. She was cruel. Watching her old friend suffer like this, and enjoying every second. Yet she felt like she shouldn't be doing this. But…but maybe now he'd left Rinoa he'd want her. Would he? Maybe…she could try to find him too. That thought to her was alluring, but forbidding. She remembered back, back to when he stopped being a SeeD. 

He had stood there, almost domineering, in front of Xu, and said, "I won't do it." 

He had been asked to kill Rinoa. Because she was different. She wasn't a SeeD, and to them she had no real connections with their world.

She slapped him round the face. He didn't weaken, just stood there, staring her out. 

She looked again at Rinoa, a distant look in her eyes, in the world of escapism, yet she must be feeling immeasurable pain. 

She spoke. "Quistis." She said it like she hated her. "This is what you have done."

"You…you took Squall away from me!"

"What? He didn't love you, never will do, you bitch!"

Rinoa took her gun that she had sneaked into her cell, and she fired a couple of rounds into the wall, in an attempt to weaken it. Then she pointed it at Quistis.

"You won't."

"I will."

"Why would you?"

"I hate you." She had finally said those words. She had been trying to say them ever since she had figured it out that Quistis had done this. 

She fired. Quistis crumpled. She was lying on the floor, Rinoa thought she was dead. She shot again at the wall, and then kicked a hole in it, and found that it led straight outside. She looked down. They were flying quite close to the ground, only about 6 or 7 feet above ground. Maybe she could jump that distance. She decided to risk it. But then she realized they were going fast, maybe too fast. She could wait until morning, but then it would probably be too late. She had to act now. She lowered herself down, and looked at the spinning blade below her. Then it shuddered, and stopped. Rinoa took her chance. She jumped down onto it, and from it, down onto the ground. 

*


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

She ran. She ran to the train station, but she had to wait. The next train wasn't for two hours, and how long would it take them to find out she was gone, and Quistis dead? They would be here, any second, to kill her. "Look," she said to the station attendant, "I need a train, I don't care where to, I'm desperate."

"Next train is in two hours, to Deling City. There has been a delay on all lines." he said, almost mechanically. 

"I don't have time. Please…"

He ignored her. She had to find another way out. In absolute desperation, she tried to rent a car, but they were all broken down or already lent out, so no luck. She asked the people in the town, but they gave no replies to her pleas. They were mostly ignoring her; they thought her to be dangerous, after seeing her with that gun, when she had shot the SeeD's in Ma Dincht's house. 

She walked up to the last person in the town, a woman in her mid 40's, and asked her, "Could you help me?"

The woman turned round in surprise. "Who are you?"

She didn't answer the woman's question, just carried on. "I need to get out of here."

"But…why?"

"The SeeD's are out to get me. I need some way to escape."

"The SeeD's? Why? But…that's not important. There's a boat, leaving for Dollet in about 10 minutes. I'm going on that boat as well, so you can come with me. I don't even know why I'm helping you."

Rinoa thanked her. She sat down on the railings in the harbour and waited. Those 10 minutes seemed to last forever. Every second, she thought that a SeeD could come from the garden, and start to look for her. They could turn that corner, and see her, sitting there, waiting to hear the sound of the boat pulling in, the sound of freedom. Her ticket to escape. 

She sat and thought. She was facing all this, but it would be worth it, to see him, for him to hold her in his arms, a gentle kiss to show that he loved her. She would stay with him forever; even death would not be able to break that bond of love that they would share.

The woman leaned against the railings, but not next to where Rinoa sat. Why had she helped this woman? She didn't even know her name. 

The boat pulled in. Rinoa ran joyfully towards it, like a child taking their first trip on a boat. She ran onto it, quickly, just in case. The woman followed her slowly; she was in no hurry. 

The boat pulled out of the harbour. Rinoa sat down on one of the benches on the ship, lay down on it, and slept.

***

When she woke up, the boat was deserted. "It must have pulled in." she thought to herself. But she got up and looked out of one of the windows, and saw that they were still floating in the middle of the sea. "What happened?" she thought, "Where is everyone, why am I still here? The boat should have pulled in, it's 3 ½ hours late."

She began to look around the ship. She found nothing; she could see no one. She searched some rooms along the corridor, but found nothing much of interest, only a piano, a bookcase, a lone magazine. She slowly wandered back, feeling in no rush, even though she wanted to find out what was going on. 

She saw a little room down a narrow passageway leading off the main corridor, and entered. She hadn't noticed it on her way down; she hadn't been paying that much attention. She saw people, lots of people, all sleeping, slumped over a dinner table, all sitting in hard-backed chairs. Their dinners were on the table before them, then she realized they were all dead. Poisoned. Was that woman who had helped her among them? She didn't want to think about it.

And then she saw an empty seat, right at the end of the table. Where she would have sat. Where she would have sat, and begun to eat, and flop limply forwards, those toxins that would have been there taking over. 

And she had slept through it all. At least 40 people had died when she was in her slumber, all falling into a slumber of their own…

***


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

She steered the ship into the Dollet harbour. It had been harder than she had expected, and it took her a while to get used to its controls. She had almost crashed the boat into the rock face nearby, and felt lucky to escape from the boat alive. After all, everyone else on the boat was resting in eternal sleep, never to wake up. She clambered out of the boat. She was greeted by a lot of the local people, who were very worried about what had happened.

They hampered her with questions, how she had got out of there, how had she steered the boat to safety, and, more importantly, where everyone else was. 

"I have stepped off this boat," she said, "the only survivor."

People were taken aback, shocked, worried, knowing that their friends and relatives were dead. One little boy began to cry, and clutched his bigger brother's hand, and muttered, "Nanny…"

Rinoa felt awful. She was extremely upset for everyone here, and she almost wanted to cry. She could have saved those people, if only she could have got rid of the food, if only she had warned them, if only… 

She began to feel claustrophobic. All these people, crowded round her, crying and mourning the loss of their loved ones. She wanted to get out. 

She tried to shove through the crowd, they decided to let her pass; she wandered off into the town. 

It was mostly empty. She tried to enter the buildings, they were all locked up. She reached the central square, and then sat down on the edge of the fountain. Would she ever find Squall? It was clear that he wasn't here, otherwise she would have recognised him. Maybe she should give up. But she'd come this far. Should she continue her adventure, or should she settle with living back in Timber? The adventure was taking its toll on her, she was tired and hungry, and she felt weaker than she ever had done. 

Then she thought of him, together, living happily wherever he wanted, him and her, their lives so perfect, resting gently in his arms, forever. 

What should she do now? Maybe she could climb to the top of the tower, she couldn't see how it would help her, but it would occupy her for a while, and hopefully she could find something. She doubted that Squall had returned there, but she could try. 

She began the slow steady climb up the rocks to the tower. It wasn't particularly hard, but because she was so tired, she found it harder than she normally would have done. She reached the tower, a journey that took her a couple of monsters and a few rests along the way. She stepped inside. She had never been here before, and so didn't know what it was like inside. 

Some of the metal was a little rusty, and it was quite depressing, though some of it was quite high tech and modern. She took the lift to the top.

It was deserted. She had half expected for Galbadians to be up there, she was growing more cautious. The silence unnerved her. She looked around her. She didn't find much, except some old potion bottles lying discarded on the floor from their battle with Evolret all those months ago. 

She went back down the stairs; there wasn't much of interest up there.

Then she saw something, lying on the floor. It was a photograph. A photograph of a little boy in a yellow top, looking very sad and forlorn. A younger Squall. He could only be about 5 in this picture. She took it, and pocketed it, if it was his and he had left it here, she should at least keep it and if she decided to find him, return it to him. 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

She decided to move on from Dollet, the atmosphere was too sad there, after the deaths on the ship. She walked along the path to Deling City, and decided to stay there for a while. 

She avoided seeing her father, the last time she had seen him was way back when they had to assassinate the sorceress, and she hated the fact that he was a Galbadian general as much as ever. 

She wandered around, seemingly aimlessly, but really looking out for any sign of him. She doubted that he was here, because they had only come here briefly, and only once. But there was always a chance. 

Back at the garden, Quistis' condition was fatal. Rinoa hadn't managed to kill her, and some SeeDs had found her and saved her. 

Quistis was awake, lying down in bed, and had no memory of her meeting with Rinoa. The last thing she could remember was their adventure and defeating Ultimecia, a few days after that were a hazy blur, after that nothing at all. 

She asked what had happened, she knew months had passed with no memory of it. They told her the truth, she was shocked, but deep down inside her she knew it was all true. When they told her, she still could only recall very little. There was one thing she could remember. Looking at her friend inside the cell, and loving to watch her suffer. 

She realized that they must have done something to her. Her mind had been affected by their evil technology; they had twisted and manipulated it to their liking. How they did this, she didn't know, but she knew that in her normal state she would never have done anything like this. She wanted to ask what they had done to her, but she knew they would deny everything. Police were an option, but they would say she acted of her own free will, and they would never believe her. 

She wanted to run out of this wretched place. She wanted to escape. Maybe she could save the others from this predicament. But her body wouldn't seem to do what she wanted. She had only took a bullet, but she felt so much weaker, weaker than ever. 

"It must be the shock of finding out what I've done…" she thought, though she knew there must be some other reason for her helplessness. 

She would go and see the leader of the garden; no one really knew who or what it was. They had never seen it. It had taken over their lives, yet no one had the courage to go and see what it was, why it was there.

****

She was awake, it was late, she couldn't sleep. The other SeeD's had gone, or were sleeping. This was her chance.

She got up slowly out of bed, and walked out the room. Her burdens did not stay there; they seemed to follow her, wherever she went. The agony of knowing what she had done, out of her control, was almost too much to bear. 

Suddenly, she fell down onto the floor, clutching her head tight, the pain shooting through her body. Lightning bolts seemed to attack her brain, and bombarded her with the answers to those questions she had longed to know about her past. It all came back to her; she realized the true evil of what she had done.

She shakily got to her feet, her head still hurting, yet more things coming back to her as she was standing there. Then it all went away, the pain leaving no trace that it had ever been there. 

But it wasn't Quistis who stood there. Standing tall, her eyes red, her scaly body, her short black hair, her long tail, stood pure evil. She had rose again. 

****

Rinoa stood in Deling City; a shiver ran down her spine. She knew something was wrong. She began to shake, and she began to feel cold. Her body temperature rapidly dropped, she ran to the Galbadia Hotel, and ran upstairs to one of the rooms. She sat down on the bed, her blood turning ice cold, and everything around her began to grow cloudy.

She slumped onto the bed, her head lolling, she couldn't control herself, she felt like this was the end-

She lay there, silence around the room. She did not stir, just lay there in a peaceful slumber. One of the workers at the hotel tried to revive her, believing her unconscious, and another phoned an ambulance. But all to no avail. She would not move; she couldn't breathe, and the paramedics told them she was dead. 

****


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Half sisters. The words echoed in her brain. Half sisters. Their pasts linked together, their futures entwined. Destined to kill each other, to drive each other to their horrible deaths. 

She saw herself, much older, fighting with a force of true evil. She heard herself say the words; "You will regret this." 

They were to be the last words she would ever utter. She was struck to the ground, her head crashing against the rocks. The evil being held her hand to Rinoa's throat, strangling her. Rinoa tried to speak, the words wouldn't come. And then she stabbed her, over and over again, and walked off into the shadows, leaving Rinoa's bloodstained carcass on the grey rocks.

He came over to her; he had been watching in the darkness. He sat down on those rocks, and he cried. He had failed…

Rinoa suddenly sat up in bed. Quistis' transformation led to a drop in all her vital organs; the signals were too small to be picked up by the paramedics. Her heart rate had decreased to a beat a minute; the paramedics only measured her pulse for 30 seconds. 

How could she get out of there unnoticed? There was only one route of escape she could use, and it was far too risky. She could jump out of the window.

Rinoa didn't realise that they thought she was dead, she thought she could just walk out the normal way. But something told her not to. She heard a loud voice downstairs, talking to the owner of the hotel. She recognised it, but didn't know, couldn't remember whom it belonged to. 

Then she realised. It was Cid, the owner of the garden when she had been there. Another voice began to yell, sounding slurred, but she still recognised it. It was Norg. Back from the garden, and back from what Rinoa and the others had assumed was his death. 

"We're looking for a woman, by the name of Rinoa. We believe she knows something."

A million thoughts came to her mind at once. Was it to do with their adventure, to do with the garden? Were they still in control of it? Was it something to do with…Squall? 

She knew what she had to do. She marched downstairs, and looked at them. Cid looked a lot older then he had done when she had known him, But Norg…Norg looked strange and mysterious, his eyes like a whirlpool, attracting her, dragging her into a world of slavery, poverty and death. 

She looked away from him. She looked towards Cid. Though his eyes were scowling at her, the rest of his face looked almost friendly. She spoke. "Why do you want me?"

The people at the hotel continued to remain silent, they had truly believed she was dead. 

Cid replied harshly, "You know something about the garden, Rinoa. What do you know? We were thrown out of there a few months ago. All the SeeD's there, from what I've heard, are unhappy. I will take it over again, and fulfil the garden's true original purpose." 

"I will tell you the little I know, whether it is lies or truth I cannot determine, " she said, "but you must return the favour. I wish to know the whereabouts of Squall Leonhart."

Her mission was still to find him; even her discovery about Quistis could not deter her. 

"Tell us."

"I heard from Quistis that you had left the garden, and she told me some SeeD's took over. Apparently they spent all of the Garden's funds. The SeeD's are trying to raise funds in any way they can. They tried stealing and everything, I saw them in Ma Dincht's house taking some of her things."

"Go on."

"She mentioned something called the Great Deling Plot." 

"Did she explain what it was?"

"She said they were going to shut Deling City down, and turn it into a military base. The reasons she gave were that the city had connections with the military, and she also mentioned…Caraway. She didn't mention how they were going to do it."

"And now… I will tell you about Squall."

"Thank you…"

"He stayed on as a SeeD for a little while. He stopped being a SeeD soon after we left, I know because he came to visit us. He had never told you this, but Xu had asked him to kill you. The reason was because you were not part of their intricate world. 

"He said…he said he was going to find his father. He said he knew who it was. And when he found his father… he was going to kill him."

She ran out of the door. There could only be one person who it could possibly be. "Laguna…" she muttered to herself, "Esthar…" 

How could she get there? She had no Ragnarok, no flying garden. But there was a way, there was a disused train track leading from one continent to the other. She had made her decision. She would walk across it.

She ambled in the general direction of where she thought the train track was. Cid called after her, "where are you going?"

"Esthar. "

"How?"

"I am walking across the disused train track."

"No, they rebuilt it. It is no longer disused. If you want to go to Esthar, I will take you."

She found herself trusting him, and followed him to his aircraft parked outside Deling City. As she got into it, she felt warm and happy for the first time in months. As he took off, she fell asleep in the chair, happy and contented. Maybe she didn't need him after all…

***


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Cid shook her. She woke up, and realised that she must have arrived. Cid asked if she wanted him to go with her, but she declined. She had to sort this out for herself. 

She ran through the streets of Esthar, and asked a man for directions. He dragged her roughly aside, into a small street. 

"You an outsider?" 

She nodded.

"Look, don't get involved with any of that. There's been murder, and the person who's taken over the city don't have a clue how to run it. The guy who's dead, his son took over. No one can get out. The economy's fell to pieces. Rats and mice all over the city, this city's a dumping ground. I thought I'd be able to get a good job here."

He walked off. She continued to walk through the city. She needed to find him. 

She eventually found her way to the centre of the city, where he was, or was supposed to be. She entered the building. There were no guards to stop her; she was free to do whatever she wanted. She took the lift, and she entered the room where Squall was.

He was sprawled out on a sofa to the left of her. "He's sleeping." She thought, and she didn't want to wake him. So she sat down on the arm of the sofa, and waited. 

Hours passed. Was he just sleeping? She shook him gently. His body was warm, and it didn't look as if he was dead. 

She held his hand. She looked at it for the first time. It was horribly scarred; he must have been in a lot of fights. Perhaps with the local people. 

She was beginning to fear the worst. Maybe someone had…killed him. 

Tears fell down her face and onto his still body. But then she felt him move. How could he have lain so still for so long? But she felt weaker as every second went by. Had he died and returned? He sat up. 

"Thank you…" he said, "for returning me to this earth."

She was puzzled. How could he have…returned? 

"I thought I was dead, to never return, I am eternally in debt to you."

Then he smashed her head against the wall. She felt…almost satisfied. She was going to die, but she had kept her lover alive. Was there any way she could save herself? She had unfinished business. 

"You must die!" he yelled.

He took his gunblade and stabbed her, again and again. She was dying. She muttered, "I love you…" before collapsing in a heap on the floor.

He turned and walked out the room in disgust. He could not love, he was evil. 

"Time to take control of my city once again."

He felt no remorse for the woman he had killed. His laws were reinforced once again; again it was his evil city. 

A townsperson had come to see the evil ruler. Instead he found Rinoa's body on the floor.

She had left the world forever, but she was responsible for her own destiny. 

The End.


End file.
